Theorizing about gender and entrepreneurship: bridging the gap with social psychology

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to approach women's entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the entrepreneurial phenomena and to its development as a field of research.Design/methodology/approachThe gender aspect of entrepreneurship is essentially socio‐psychological in nature. First, the authors define the social psychology research scope and present a selection of social psychology theories that are particularly relevant to the domain of women's entrepreneurship. Concepts such as stereotypes, stereotype threat and role models are introduced. Second, the authors instantiate how the social psychology experimental method can address core questions in the women's entrepreneurship field, such as women's under‐representation in entrepreneurial positions.FindingsThe conclusion of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, social psychology theories can address crucial issues in women's entrepreneurship and on the other hand, experimentation as a research methodology enables us to determine causal relationships. However, given the specificities of both social psychology and women's entrepreneurship, we strongly recommend collaborative research between researchers in the two areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors propose concrete though non‐exhaustive areas of study in women's entrepreneurship research, where social psychological theories can be successfully employed.Social implicationsUsing applied social psychology research, the authors suggest practical ways to reject negative stereotypes that prevent women from being entrepreneurs.Originality/valueAlthough women's entrepreneurship is a social psychological phenomenon, this field of study still rarely makes reference to social psychology as a discipline for theorizing the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship.